Commonwealth v. Warren
| Decision Date | 27 February 1894 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH v. WARREN. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
The defendant was proprietor of an hotel, the dining room of which he conducted upon the American plan. The price for a breakfast was 35 cents. One Kelly asked for a breakfast, and called for a glass of milk with, and as a part of, his breakfast. He was served by a waiter. He paid the clerk at the office desk 35 cents. A part of this glass of milk was taken away from said hotel in a bottle, and subsequently analyzed by a chemist, and, as testified by said chemist, found to contain less than 13 per cent. of milk solids. The defendant testified that he knew nothing of the transaction; that he bought milk of good standard quality that he poured off the top of the can, which portion was to be used upon the tables; that the residue was to be used in the kitchen; that he had given orders to his servants not to serve for the tables any milk but that so poured off.
The defendant requested rulings as follows: "(a) That there was no sale of the milk; (b) that the defendant was not liable if the waiter, contrary to instructions, served milk from a can designed for other use." The court declined to rule as requested, and instructed the jury that, if the defendant's servant, in the ordinary course of his employment, acting in good faith, and intending to obey the defendant's instructions, delivered to Kelly, upon his order, the milk in question, as a part of Kelly's breakfast, for which breakfast Kelly paid 35 cents, and said milk was not of good, standard quality, the defendant was responsible, under the statute, notwithstanding the servant negligently and by mistake took the milk from a can which had been set apart for use in the kitchen; but that the defendant was not responsible if his servant, in furnishing the milk upon Kelly's order, intentionally acted in disobedience of the defendant's instructions. To the refusal to rule as requested, and to the instructions given, the defendant excepted.
F.E Hurd, First Asst. Dist. Atty., for the Commonwealth.
P.H Hutchinson, for defendant.
The statute makes a party liable for a sale, by himself or his agent or servant, of milk not of the standard quality. St.1886, c. 318, § 2. No criminal intent on the part of the master or principal is necessary in order to render him liable for a sale in violation of the statute,...
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Friend v. Childs Dining Hall Co.
...facts there presented. Precisely the same point was held in State v. Lotti, 72 Vt. 115, 47 Atl. 392. The defendant in Commonwealth v. Warren, 160 Mass. 533, 36 N. E. 308, was charged with selling milk not of good standard quality contrary to St. 1886, c. 318, § 2. The evidence was that a gu......
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Friend v. Childs Dining Hall Co.
...applicable to the facts there presented. Precisely the same point was held in State v. Lotti, 72 Vt. 115. The defendant in Commonwealth v. Warren, 160 Mass. 533, was with selling milk not of good standard quality contrary to St. 1886, c. 318, Section 2. The evidence was that a guest at the ......
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